Landeron

History

The company began in 1873, formed by Charles Alfred Hahn and his brother Aimé Auguste Hahn, and called Charles Hahn & Cie. They produced watches at first, but moved into watch movement production in the 1920's.

Landeron's column wheelchronograph movements were famous, and the company supplied these movements to many militaries. Examples include Cal. 11 and 13 and the state-of-the-art Cal. 39. Because they held the Breitling patents, Landeron was the exclusive supplier of column wheel chronograph movements until their expiration in the 1930's.

Just before World War II, Landeron developed the first cam actuated chronograph. Their Cal. 47 had three pushers: One to start, another to stop, and a third to reset the counter. They refined this movement to become the two-pusher Cal. 48. This would become one of the most popular chronograph movements ever made, with more than 3.5 million examples produced between 1937 and 1970. The lower price of production compared to a column wheel model meant an average person could afford a chronograph for the first time.

In the 1960's, Landeron produced the first Swiss electric movement, Cal. 4750. It featured a battery-powered balance wheel rather than a mainspring.